R&B singer Devin Copeland, known professionally as De Rico, and songwriter Mareio Overton filed a lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Virginia alleging that they came up with the song "Somebody to Love."

Bieber, who is managed by one of Usher's business ventures, released "Somebody to Love" in 2010 with Usher also singing on the recording. The song peaked at No. 15 on the U.S. Billboard chart.

Copeland and Overton allege that "Somebody to Love" has the same title, time signature, underlying beat pattern as well as similar chords and share similar lyrics, including the chorus "I ... need somebody to love."

"There is essentially a zero probability for the number of points of congruence between the two versions of 'Somebody to Love,'" Copeland and Overton said in the lawsuit.

Bieber, songwriter Heather Bright and the Stereotypes are credited as the writers of Bieber's "Somebody to Love."

Messages left with attorneys for Bieber and Usher were not immediately returned.

Copeland and Overton allege that music scouts presented "Somebody to Love" to Usher in 2009, and that Usher's mother, who also serves as his manager at times, asked Copeland to re-record the song and go on tour with Usher.

After not hearing back from Usher, Copeland alleges in the lawsuit he heard his song being sung by Bieber on the radio.

Usher, who first recorded the song as a demo for his 2010 album "Raymond v. Raymond," later recorded a remix version with Bieber singing backing vocals on the song.

The lawsuit lists 19 defendants, including record label Universal Music Corp, a unit of French media company Vivendi.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)

The Kauai Humane Society since December has been reaching out to tourists and other travelers willing to bring a dog with them as extra luggage when they fly to California and Oregon.

The shelter gets a lot of stray and abandoned dogs derived from hunting breeds that are used for hunting feral pigs on Kauai. So far, 24 dogs have been adopted through the program, which also is working with the Oregon Humane Society in Portland.

Shelter officials say the Hawaii dogs get snatched up quickly after languishing in Kauai's shelter for months because they are different from what is normally offered for adoption.

Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, the central figure in the trial, was given a one-year prison term for endangering public health and the judge also ordered the evidence, including bags of blood possibly belonging to athletes from sports other than cycling, to be destroyed.

Her decision not to release evidence to anti-doping authorities for further investigation damaged hopes that the case would unmask other athletes involved in illegal doping, and prompted widespread condemnation.

"WADA has carefully considered the decision rendered by the Criminal Court in Madrid in relation with the Operation Puerto," the agency's director general, David Howman, said in a statement on the agency's website (playtrue.wada-ama.org).

"The decision to order the destruction of all the blood bags is particularly disappointing and unsatisfactory for WADA, and the whole anti-doping community," Howman added.

"Access to this evidence motivated WADA's involvement in this case.

"This would ensure appropriate sports sanction processes against the cheats who used Dr Fuentes's services."

The Spanish anti-doping agency (AEA) has already said it will appeal against the judge's ruling to destroy the evidence and Howman said WADA might follow suit.

"WADA is currently fully reviewing the decision and any possible appeal or other action with its Spanish legal advisors, and the Spanish National Anti-Doping Organisation (AEA)," he said, adding that the appeal deadline was May 17.

WADA, the AEA, the Spanish cycling federation (RFEC), the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) were all represented in the three-month trial in Madrid.

Fuentes, who denied doping, said in his opening testimony that he had clients in cycling but also in sports including soccer, tennis, athletics and boxing.

Spain has been hoping the trial will help to dispel the impression that the nation was soft on doping and boost Madrid's bid to win the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

The country is pushing updated anti-doping legislation through parliament which the government says will bring Spain into line with international norms. (Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Clare Fallon)

Many scientists suspect that the 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers)formed primarily from layers of lakebed silt, which is one of the main reasons that the mountain was selected as Curiosity's ultimate destination. But the new study holds that wind probably did most of the heavy lifting.

"Our work doesn't preclude the existence of lakes in Gale Crater, but suggests that the bulk of the material in Mount Sharp was deposited largely by the wind," study co-author Kevin Lewis, of Princeton University, said in a statement. []

A mysterious mountain

Thelanded inside 96-mile-wide (154 km) Gale Crater last August, kicking off a two-year surface mission to investigate Mars' past and present potential to host microbial life.

The 1-ton robot has already checked off its main goal, finding that a spot near its landing site called Yellowknife Bay wasbillions of years ago. But the mission team is still gearing up to send Curiosity on a 6-mile (10 km) trek to the base of Mount Sharp, which was identified before launch as the rover's main science target.

Observations from NASA's(MRO) suggest that Mount Sharp's foothills were exposed to liquid water long ago. And as Curiosity climbs up through the mound's many layers, the rover will be able to read the Red Planet's environmental history like a book, mission scientists reasoned.

In the new study, researchers used other MRO observations to devise a new theory of Mount Sharp's formation. The team determined that the mound's layers aren't flat-lying stacks, as would be expected in lakebed deposits. Rather, they fan outward in an odd radial pattern from Mount Sharp's center, researchers said.

This finding is consistent with results from the team's computer model, which suggested that wind blowing down Gale's slopes could build a mound in the crater's center while leaving areas near the rim relatively bare.

So Mount Sharp may not be the eroded remnant of an even bigger mound that once filled Gale from rim to rim.

"Every day and night you have these strong winds that flow up and down the steep topographic slopes. It turns out that a mound like this would be a natural thing to form in a crater like Gale," said Lewis, who is a participating scientist on Curiosity's mission. "Contrary to our expectations, Mount Sharp could have essentially formed as a free-standing pile of sediment that never filled the crater."

Testing the theory

Curiosity team member Dawn Sumner, who was not involved in the new study, said it presented interesting ideas that the rover should be able to test out in the future.

"This paper provides a new model for Mount Sharp that makes specific predictions about the characteristics of the rocks within the mountain," Sumner, a geology professor at the University of California-Davis, said in a statement. "Observations by Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp can test the model by looking for evidence of wind deposition of sediment."

However Mount Sharp formed, the hugemountain should be a productive hunting ground for Curiosity, Lewis said.

"One way or another, we're going to get an incredible history book of all the events going on while that sediment was being deposited," he said. "I think Mount Sharp will still provide an incredible story to read. It just might not have been a lake."

The new study was published in the May issue of the journal Geology.

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Arriving in Mexico City on Thursday on his first trip to Latin America since winning re-election, Obama was met at the steps of his plane by an honor guard and a trumpeting bugler. He greeted top Mexican officials before heading to the National Palace for meetings with President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in December. The two leaders were to speak at a joint news conference Thursday evening.

Obama is looking for more details from Pena Nieto about changes he is making to the robust security relationship between the neighboring countries. In a shift from his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, Pena Nieto has moved to end the widespread access U.S. security agencies have had in Mexico to help fight drug trafficking and organized crime.

The White House has stepped carefully in its public response to the changes, with the president and his advisers saying they need to hear directly from the Mexican leader before making a judgment.

"With the new Mexican administration coming into office, it certainly stands to reason that President Pena Nieto would want to take a look at the nature of our cooperation," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser. "So we're currently working with the Mexicans to evaluate the means by which we cooperate, the means by which we provide assistance."

The White House, hoping to move the discussion surrounding the president's trip beyond security, has emphasized in recent days a desire to boost economic ties to Mexico.

Already the economic relationship between the two countries is robust, with Mexico accounting for $500 billion in U.S. trade in 2011 and ranking as the second-largest export market for U.S. goods. A stronger Mexican economy would result in even more trade and job growth on both sides of the border, Obama aides say.

Among the cadre of advisers traveling with the president is Michael Froman, a longtime White House international economic adviser who was nominated by Obama just hours before the trip to serve as the next U.S. Trade Representative.

A host of other pressing issues are vying for Obama's attention as he launches his quick trip to Mexico and then to Costa Rica. Among those issues are possible chemical weapons use in Syria, the arrest of three more people in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings, and the delicate immigration negotiations underway on Capitol Hill.

Obama will be looking for a nod of support for the immigration effort from Pena Nieto. The Mexican leader is expected to back the effort, although it's unlikely he will take a public position on specific components of any pending legislation in order to avoid the impression that Mexico is meddling in U.S. domestic politics.

Still, Pena Nieto's support particularly for stricter border security efforts could help Obama sell the measure to wary Republicans, many of whom have long opposed giving legal status to people in the country illegally before securing the border. A bipartisan Senate bill Obama is backing would make a pathway to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally contingent on a secure border.

"They are critical to our ability to secure the border," Rhodes, the Obama adviser, said of Mexico. "All the immigration plans that have been contemplated put a focus on securing the border as an essential priority and starting point for immigration reform."

On Friday, Obama will speak to an audience of Mexican students before heading to Costa Rica for talks with Central American leaders. His meetings there are expected to focus on bolstering regional economic cooperation, as well as security issues.

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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Crosby said Wednesday broken jaw will keep him out of Pittsburgh's playoff opener against the New York Islanders Wednesday night. Crosby hasn't played since taking an errant shot to the face in a game against the Islanders on March 30. He met with a doctor on Tuesday and while the doctor was pleased with Crosby's progress he still has not received clearance to play.

"He said everything looks good, he just wasn't prepared to let me play," Crosby said. "Obviously I would love to have the chance to play tonight but that's not the way it is and (I'll) make sure I'm ready when the time comes."

Crosby skated alongside his teammates on Wednesday morning then spent an additional 30 minutes on the ice getting extra work in. He said he has not been given a timetable for his return. Game 2 is Friday night.

"He didn't give me a date and I'm sure if he gives a date, I'd have pretty high expectations of that date," Crosby said. "I'm sure he's waiting until he feels comfortable."

The Penguins went 8-4 while playing without Crosby for the final quarter of the season and beat the Islanders in four of their five meetings this year.

Despite missing 12 games, Crosby still finished tied for third in the NHL scoring race with 56 points and he has torched the Islanders throughout his career, scoring 20 goals and dishing out 55 assists against the Islanders, the most points has against any team.

New York coach Jack Capuano thinks even without Crosby the star-laden Penguins remain one of the most dangerous teams in the league. In addition to reigning NHL MVP Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins added future Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla and veterans Jussi Jokinen, Brenden Morrow and Doug Murray at the trade deadline.

"Obviously again they've got a lot of depth," Capuano said.

When people start downloading the Home software upon its April 12 release in the U.S., Facebook will become the new hub of their Android smartphones.

Switch on your phone and you'll see friends' photos, overlaid by status updates, links and eventually, advertisements in Facebook's quest to bring in more revenue and restore its stock price to where it stood when the company went public nearly 11 months ago.

About 80 percent of what currently appears within a Facebook user's News Feed will automatically be transferred into the "cover feed" of the Home service. For instance, a sibling's status update might be featured prominently on the phone's home screen when it's unlocked. Swipe a finger and there might be a photo posted by one of your best friends. Want to like what you see? Just tap on the home screen twice. Comments can be posted directly from the home screen, too.

If other friends happen to send you a message, their Facebook photo will pop up as a notification.

Other Facebook features, such as video, will be added to Home in future months. A Home version for Android-powered tablet computers also will be coming later this year.

Once they have had their fill of what Facebook is feeding them on the Home service, users can just swipe a finger on the screen to get to all the standard Android apps to listen to music, watch videos or send email.

At first, Home will only work on some Android devices, including HTC Corp.'s One X and One X Plus and Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note 2. For now, Home isn't compatible with the Nexus phone designed by Google, a fierce Facebook rival whose pliable Android software is being modified to accommodate the new service.

A phone from HTC that comes pre-loaded with Home will be available starting April 12, with AT&T Inc. as the carrier. The HTC First will sell for $99.99 with a two-year data plan from AT&T.

Home is debuting after several years of speculation that Facebook intended to make its own phone or mobile operating system to drive more traffic to its social network. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the speculation never made sense to him because he believes a company-produced phone might only end up in the hands of 10 million to 20 million people. The Home service gives Facebook a chance to take control of the main screen of every phone running on Android, the leading mobile operating system. In the U.S. alone, about 64 million people will be relying on Android-driven phones this year, estimated the research firm eMarketer.

"Just building a phone isn't enough for Facebook," Zuckerberg said Thursday during Home's unveiling at the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters.

The idea behind the software is to bring Facebook content right to users' home screens, rather than requiring them to check various apps to see what their friends are up to, or to chat. Down the line, Facebook will integrate its existing camera app and other features. Though cameras and calls won't be built into the initial version of Home, Zuckerberg promised the software will be updated at least once a month to add more features and fix bugs.

"Home" comes amid rapid growth in the number of people who access Facebook from phones and tablet computers. Of the social network's 1.06 billion monthly users, 680 million log in using a mobile gadget. As a result, the money Facebook makes from mobile advertising is also growing. Taking over the entire screen of smartphones and, eventually, tablet computers will provide Facebook for a larger canvas for selling mobile ads.

Zuckerberg, already a multibillionaire, didn't dwell on Home's moneymaking potential Thursday. Instead, he depicted the software as a noble attempt to put a higher priority on personal relationships than utilitarian apps.

"Why do we need to go into all the apps in the first place to see what is going on with the people we care about," he asked.

"We think this is the best version of Facebook there is," he said.

That statement implies that using Facebook on Apple's iPhone and other smartphones may become a less enriching experience. Apple Inc., which rigidly controls how apps work on the operating system built for the iPhone and iPad, has ingrained more Facebook features into the most recent versions of its mobile software.

Apple had no immediate comment about Home.

Zuckerberg said users can have an experience on Android phones unavailable on other platforms because Google makes the software available on an open-source basis. That allows phone manufacturers and software developers to adapt it to their needs.

Recognizing that text messaging is one of the most important tasks on a mobile phone, Facebook programmed Home to include a feature called "chat heads." This lets users communicate with their friends directly from their home screens without opening a separate app.

"What Facebook wants is to put itself at the front of the Android user experience for as many Facebook users as possible and make Facebook more elemental to their customers' experience," said Forrester analyst Charles Golvin.

While the Home service probably makes sense for Facebook, Golvin believes the company is overestimating "the extent to which this is something their users want."

"I'm sure there are people out there whose lives revolve around their social network and for them it makes sense to have it front and center," Golvin said. "But this doesn't describe the majority of consumers."

Google Inc. is among the companies hoping that Golvin is correct. The Internet search leader gives away its Android software for free, in the hope that it will steer phone users to ads sold by Google. With Home, Facebook will be muscling its way in between Android users and Google, creating an opportunity for Facebook to seize the advertising advantage.

This is not the first time a big Internet company has co-opted Android: Amazon.com's Kindle Fire tablets run a version of Android that strips out all Google services, replacing them with Amazon's equivalents. Google responded by releasing its own tablet to compete against the Kindle Fire last year.

The mobile advertising market is growing quickly, thanks in large part to Facebook and Twitter, which also entered the space in 2012. EMarketer expects U.S. mobile ad spending to grow 77 percent this year to $7.29 billion, from $4.11 billion last year.

Facebook, meanwhile, is expected to reel in $1.53 billion in worldwide mobile ad revenue this year according to eMarketer, up from $470.7 million last year.

Facebook's stock rose 82 cents, or 3.1 percent, to close Thursday at $27.07. That's 29 percent below its initial public offering price of $38. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor's 500 index has surged by 20 percent since Facebook's rocky debut.

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Barbara Ortutay reported from New York. AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson contributed to this story from New York.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Sunday a $10 billion arms deal under discussion with Washington's Arab and Israeli allies sent a "very clear signal" to Tehran the military option remains on the table over its nuclear program.

"The bottom line is that Iran is a threat, a real threat," said Hagel, who arrived in Israel on Sunday on his first visit to Israel as defense secretary.

"The Iranians must be prevented from developing that capacity to build a nuclear weapon and deliver it," he told reporters on his plane.

The first stop on Hagel's week-long Middle East trip came two days after the Pentagon said it was finalizing a weapons deal to strengthen the militaries of Israel and two of Iran's key rivals - Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The deal includes the sale of KC-135 aerial refueling tankers, anti-air defense missiles and tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey troop transport planes to Israel as well as the sale of 25 F-16 Fighting Falcon jets to the UAE.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia also would be allowed to purchase weapons with so-called "stand-off" capabilities that enable them to engage the enemy with precision at a distance. Defense officials said the "stand-off" arms would give the two countries more sophisticated systems than they currently have.

Asked if the arms deal sent a message that the military option was on the table if Tehran moved to build a nuclear weapon, Hagel said: "I don't think there's any question that that's another very clear signal to Iran."

But he added the military option had been "very clear to Iran for some time" and said the arms deal was a continuation of the U.S. policy to maintain Israel's so-called "qualitative military edge" in the region, a general reference to the supply of advanced U.S.-made weaponry and technology to the Jewish state.

Iran denies Western allegations that it is seeking to develop the capability to build nuclear weapons, saying its atomic activities are aimed at generating electricity.

Israel has repeatedly voiced its impatience with the pace of diplomatic efforts to curb Iran's enrichment of uranium, saying they should be coupled with a credible military threat. Both Israel and the United States have said all options remain on the table when it comes to dealing with any nuclear threat.

Such talk has raised international concern of a possible unilateral Israeli strike on Iran that could lead to wider Middle Eastern war.

U.S. COMMITMENT

Hagel, who faced resistance during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this year from lawmakers who questioned his support for Israel, said part of the purpose of his visit was to underscore to Israelis that "the United States is committed to their security".

Asked about renewed debate in the Israeli media that Israel might have to strike Iran by itself, Hagel said "every sovereign nation has the right to defend itself and protect itself".

"Iran presents a threat in its nuclear program and Israel will make the decisions that Israel must make to protect itself and defend itself," he said.

But Hagel added the United States and other countries believe there is still time for diplomacy and tough international sanctions to have an impact.

"The military option is one option that remains on the table, must remain on the table," he said. "But military options, I think most of us feel, should be the last option."

After Israel, Hagel will visit Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. His trip comes amid mounting concerns about regional stability due to Iran's nuclear program, the rocky transition to civilian rule in Egypt and the civil war in Syria.

Hagel said the United States was still assessing claims that the Syrian government may have used chemical weapons against its military opponents in recent months, a red line President Barack Obama has cautioned would be a "game changer" in how the United States addresses the conflict.

So far the United States has provided non-lethal aid but has declined to arm the Syrian rebels.

"Our intelligence community is still assessing the facts and what we need to know before we can determine whether chemical weapons were used by the Syrian government," Hagel said.

(Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Andrew Heavens)

TORONTO (Reuters) - Corporate Canada looks set to post lackluster first-quarter results, but lowered expectations and a sharp selloff earlier this week may set the stage for near-term share price gains.

Earnings beats and any optimistic outlooks are now more likely to provide a boost when some of the biggest companies start reporting next week.

"It's the magic of low expectations," said CIBC World Markets senior economist Peter Buchanan. "Commodity markets aren't that great, and developments in the domestic economy haven't been wonderful, but the bar (for earnings) is not set very high."

Telecommunications company Rogers Communications Incand Canadian National Railway , the country's largest rail carrier, will be among the first to kick off the season, reporting their first-quarter reports on Monday.

Analysts expect earnings from companies in the Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX composite indexto show only a 0.2 percent rise from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimates.

"The forecasts seem to be more dire than the reality," said Serge Pepin, vice president of investment strategy at BMO Asset Management Canada. "We're going into the earnings season with this thought that things won't be as good."

TSX LAGS U.S. RALLY

Results that top the very modest expectations could prove to be a much-needed catalyst for languishing Canadian stocks, market strategists said. The TSX composite is down more than 3 percent so far this year, compared with a gain of more than 8 percent in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .

Toronto stocks have lagged as earnings expectations have fallen about 5 percent for TSX components in the last three months, compared with a 3 percent decline for S&P 500 companies, data from StarMine showed.

The sector expected to show the biggest earnings decline is energy, which accounts for about 25 percent of the value of the Canadian index. Prices for the country's heavy crude oil slumped in the first three months of this year, and analysts now expect energy companies to report a profit drop of more than 7 percent.

However, Elvis Picardo, strategist and vice president of research at Global Securities in Vancouver, said most investors would pay more attention to companies' outlooks than to first-quarter results.

"That's usually the case, but more so this time," he said.

The most vulnerable segment in this regard may be gold producers, which have had a disastrous run this year. While first-quarter numbers will not reflect a recent dramatic selloff in gold, including a record one-day drop, it could start to show up in projections.

Still, the materials sector, home to gold companies, is trading at a huge discount to historical levels, said Craig Fehr, Canadian market strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis.

"Valuations are attractive, and they are already pricing in expectations for some earnings disappointment," he said.

Indeed, the TSX composite index as a whole is trading about 13 times one-year forward earnings, according to Thomson Reuters data. That is also below historical levels.

BRIGHT SPOTS

The strongest growth in the quarter is likely to come from the healthcare sector, where earnings are expected to climb 15.5 percent, according to StarMine.

Another bright spot is the industrials space, which includes Canadian Pacific Railwayand CN Rail. Analysts expect the sector to record profit growth of about 7 percent.

But the picture is more mixed for financial stocks, which make up almost a third of the index. Earnings are seen rising just 3.5 percent as the Canadian economy slows and housing market cools.

"Financials are not going to provide the same lift that they did in the fourth quarter, but that's more due to the weakness in the nonbanking sectors than in the banks themselves," said CIBC's Buchanan, who sees weakness in real estate investment trusts and insurers.

Longer-term, analysts said the Canadian market's prospects hinged on the global economy, which effectively sets the price for much of the country's resource exports.

But with an unsteady U.S. recovery, as well as mixed signals out of recession-hit Europe and higher-growth China, relief is far from certain.

"The beacon of hope," said Global's Picardo, "is that the global economy does a little better than expected and the TSX will do well."

(Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Lisa Von Ahn)

The Roosters got the former All Black's complicated one-year contract ratified by the NRL just before the Friday deadline expired.

Williams faces a race against time to recover from knee and pectoral muscle injuries to play next Thursday's potential sellout at the Allianz Stadium in what could be his first rugby league game since 2008.

"The Roosters have worked closely with the NRL regarding this matter and we were comfortable with the proceedings," Roosters chief operating officer Brian Canavan said on the club website (www.roosters.com.au).

"We now look forward to continuing our preparations for the season-opener against Souths, and getting on with what will hopefully be a memorable season of football."

Williams missed Rooster trial matches after arriving late following his boxing bout with Francois Botha in Brisbane and his knee was heavily strapped at Friday's training run.

Williams beat South African Botha on points last month in a controversial fight which was reduced from 12 rounds to 10 at the last minute.

"All the boys are really enjoying training with him and really looking forward to playing with him," Roosters prop Martin Kennedy was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency.

"He's obviously got that aura around him as an athlete. He's just one of those guys you want in your side." (Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Clare Fallon)